Call number C326.92 G75 (North Carolina Collection)

Narrative of the Life of Moses Grandy; Late a Slave
in the United States of America.

London
C. Gilpin, 5, Bishopsgate-street1843

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Library of Congress Subject Headings,
21st edition, 1998

LC Subject Headings:

Grandy, Moses, b. 1786?

Slavery -- North Carolina.

Slaves -- North Carolina -- Biography.

Slaves' writings, American -- North Carolina.

[Title Page Image]

[Title Page Verso Image]

NARRATIVE

OF THE LIFE 0F

MOSES GRANDY;

LATE A SLAVE IN THE UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA.

"Slavery is a mass, a
system of enormities, which incontrovertably bids defiance to every
regulation which ingenuity can devise, or power effect, but a Total
Extinction. Why ought slavery be abolished? Because it is incurable
injustice. Why is injustice to remain for a single hour?"

William Pitt.

PUBLISHED AND SOLD FOR THE BENEFIT OF HIS
RELATIONS STILL IN SLAVERY.

LONDON:C. GILPIN, 5, BISHOPS GATE-STREET.
1843.

It is not improbable that some of the proper
names in the following pages are incorrectly spelled.
M. G., owing to the laws of the slave states, being
perfectly illiterate, his pronunciation is the only guide.

DUBLIN:
PRINTED BY WEBB AND CHAPMAN, GREAT BRUNSWICK -ST.

INTRODUCTION.

ABOUT a fortnight ago, the subject of the
following brief Memoir came to me, bearing
with him a letter from a dear friend
and distinguished abolitionist in the United
States, from which the following, is an
extract: -- "I seize my pen in haste to
gratify a most worthy coloured friend of
mine, by giving him a letter of introduction
to you, as he intends sailing this
week (August 8th, 1842,) for Liverpool
and London, via New Orleans. His name
is Moses Grandy. He knows what it is
to have been a slave, and what are the
tender mercies of the southern slave-
drivers. His history is not only authentic,
but most extraordinary, and full of thrilling
Page iv

interest. Could it published, it would
make a deep sensation in every quarter.
He was compelled to buy his freedom
three times over! He paid for it 1850
dollars (nearly £400 sterling). He has
since bought his wife, and one or two of his
children; and before going, to England will
first go to New Orleans, to purchase some
of his other children if he can find them,
who are still held in captivity. His benevolence,
affection, kindness of heart, and
elasticity of spirit are truly remarkable.
He has a good head, a fine countenance,
and a great spirit, notwithstanding his
education has been obtained in the horrible
school of slavery. Just get him to
tell you his narrative, and if you happen
to have an Anti-slavery Meeting, let him
tell his tale to a British audience." In the
letter of another highly esteemed friend,
he is spoken of as "unsurpassed for faithfulness
and perseverance." In the letter

of a third, as "a worthy and respectable
man." On examining a book containing a
list of the donations made him by American
friends, in aid of his noble design to
rescue from the miseries of slavery his relations,
I found the names and certificates
of persons of the highest respectability. It
will be amply sufficient with those who are
acquainted with the abolitionists of the
United States, for me to name General
Fessenden, and Nathan Winslow, Esq., of
Portland, Maine; the Rev. A. A. Phelps,
Ellis Gray Loring, and Samuel E. Sewall,
Esqs., of Boston, Massachusetts. Being,
satisfied, by these indubitable vouchers, of
Moses Grandy's title to credit, I listened to
his artless tale with entire confidence, and
with a feeling of interest which all will participate,
who peruse the following pages.
Considering, his Narrative calculated to promote
a more extensive knowledge of the
workings of American slavery, and that its

sale might contribute to the object which
engages so entirely the mind of Moses,
namely, the redemption of those who are
in bonds, belonging to his family, I resolved
to commit it to the press, as nearly as possible
in the language of Moses himself. I
have carefully abstained from casting in a
single reflection or animadversion of my
own. I leave the touching story of the self-
liberated captive to speak for itself; and
the wish of my heart will be gratified, and
my humble effort on his behalf be richly
rewarded, if this little book be the means of
obtaining for my coloured brother the assistance
which he seeks, or of increasing the
zeal of those who are associated for the
purpose of "breaking every yoke, and setting
the oppressed free."

LIFE OF

MOSES GRANDY.

MY name is Moses Grandy: I was born in
Camden County, North Carolina. I believe I
am fifty-six years old. Slaves seldom know
exactly how old they are: neither they nor
their masters set down the time of a birth;
the slaves, because they are not allowed to
write or read; and the masters, because they
only care to know what slaves belong to them.

The master, Billy Grandy, whose slave I was
born, was a hard-drinking man: he sold away
many slaves. I remember four sisters and four
brothers; my mother had more children, but
they were dead or sold away before I can
remember. I was the youngest. I remember

well my mother often hid us all in the woods,
to prevent master selling us. When we wanted
water, she sought for it in any hole or puddle
formed by falling trees or otherwise: it was
often full of tadpoles and insects: she strained
it, and gave it round to each of us in the hollow
of her hand. For food, she gathered berries in
the woods, got potatoes, raw corn, &c. After
a time the master would send word to her to
come in, promising, he would not sell us. But
at length persons came who agreed to give the
prices he set on us. His wife, with much to be
done, prevailed on him not to sell me; but he
sold my brother, who was a little boy. My
mother, frantic with grief, resisted their taking
her child away: she was beaten and held down :
she fainted; and when she came to herself, her
boy was gone. She made much outcry, for
which the master tied her up to a peach tree in
the yard, and flogged her.

Another of my brothers was sold to Mr.
Tyler, Dewan's Neck, Pasquotank County;
this man very much ill-treated many coloured
boys. One very cold day he sent my brother

out, naked and hungry, to find a yoke of steers:
the boy returned without finding them, when
his master flogged him, and sent him out again;
a white lady who lived near, gave him food, and
advised him to try again: he did so, but it
seems again without success. He piled up a
heap of leaves, and laid himself down in them,
and died there. He was found through a flock
of turkey buzzards hovering over him; these
birds had pulled his eyes out.

My young master and I used to play together;
there was but two days' difference in
our ages. My old master always said he would
give me to him. When he died, all the coloured
people were divided amongst his children, and
I fell to young master; his name was James
Grandy. I was then about eight years old. When
I became old enough to be taken away from
my mother and put to field-work, I was hired
out for the year, by auction, at the Court
House, every January; this is the common practice
with respect to slaves belonging to persons
who are under age. This continued till my
master and myself were twenty-one years old.

The first who hired me was Mr. Kemp,
who used me pretty Well; he gave me plenty
to eat and sufficient clothing.

The next was old Jemmy Coates, a severe
man. Because I could not learn his way of
hilling corn, he flogged me naked with a severe
whip made of a very tough sapling; this lapped
round me at each stroke, the point of it at last
entered my belly and broke off; leaving an inch
and a-half outside. I was not aware of it until
on going to work again it hurt my side very
much, when on looking down I saw it sticking,
out of my body: I pulled it out and the blood
spouted after it. The wound festered, and discharged
very much at the time, and hurt me
for years after.

In being hired out, sometimes the slave gets
a good home, and sometimes a bad one: when
he gets a good one, he dreads to see January
come; when he has a bad one, the year seems
five times as long as it is.

I was next with Mr. Enoch Sawyer of
Camden county: my business was to keep
ferry, and do other odd work. It was cruel

living; we had not near enough of either victuals
or clothes; I was half-starved for half
my time. I have often ground the husks of
Indian corn over again in a hand-mill, for the
chance of getting something to eat out of it,
which the former grinding had left. In severe
frosts, I was compelled to go into the fields
and woods to work, with my naked feet
cracked and bleeding from extreme cold: to
warm them, I used to rouse an ox or hog, and
stand on the place where it had lain. I was
at that place three years, and very long years
they seemed to me. The trick by which he
kept me so long was this: -- the Court House
was but a mile off; on hiring day, he prevented
me from going till he went himself and bid for
me. On the last occasion, he was detained for
a little while by other business, so I ran as
quickly as I could, and got hired before he
came up.

Mr. George Furley was my next master; he
employed me as a car-boy in the Dismal
swamp; I had to drive lumber, &. I had
plenty to eat and plenty of clothes. I was so

overjoyed at the change, that I then thought
I would not have left the place to go to heaven.

Next year I was hired by Mr. John Micheau
of the same county, who married my young
mistress, one of the daughters of Mr. Grandy,
and sister to my present owner. This master
gave us very few clothes, and but little to eat;
I was almost naked. One day he came into
the field, and asked why no more work was
done. The older people were afraid of him;
so I said that the reason was, we were so
hungry, we could not work. He went home
and told the mistress to give us plenty to eat,
and at dinner time we had plenty. We came
out shouting for joy, and went to work with
delight. From that time, we had food enough,
and he soon found that he had a great deal
more work done. The field was quite alive
with the people striving who should do most.

He hired me for another year. He was a
great gambler; He kept me up five nights
together, without sleep night or day, to wait
on the gambling table. I was standing in the
corner of the room, nodding for want of sleep,

when he took up the shovel, and beat me with
it: he dislocated my shoulder, and sprained
my wrist, and broke the shovel over me. I
ran away, and got another person to hire me.

This person was Mr. Richard Furley, who
after that hired me at the Court House every
year, till my master came of age. He gave me
a pass to work for myself, ; so I obtained work
by the piece where I could, and paid him out
of my earnings what we had agreed on; I maintained
myself on the rest, and saved what I
could. In this way I was not liable to be
flogged and ill-used. He paid seventy, eighty,
or ninety dollars a year for me, and I paid him
twenty or thirty dollars a year more than that.

When my master came of age, he took all
his coloured people to himself. Seeing that I
was industrious and persevering, and had
obtained plenty of work, he made me pay him
almost twice as much as I had paid Mr.
Furley. At that time, the English blockaded
the Chesapeake, which made it necessary to
send merchandize from Norfolk to Elizabeth
city by the Grand Canal, so that it might get

to sea by Pamlico Sound and Ocracock Inlet,
I took some canal boats on shares; Mr. Grice,
who married my other young mistress, was the
owner of them. I gave him one-half of all
I received for freight: out of the other half, I
had to victual and man the boats, and all over
that expense was my own profit.

Some time before this, my brother Benjamin
returned from the West Indies, where he had
been two years with his master's vessel. I
was very glad to hear of it, and got leave to
go see him. While I was sitting with his
wife and him, his wife's master came and asked
him to fetch a can of water: he did so, and
carried it into the store. While I was waiting
for him and wondering at his being so long
away, I heard the heavy blows of a hammer:
after a little while I was alarmed, and went to
see what was going on. I looked into the
store, and saw my brother lying on his back
on the floor, and Mr. Williams, who had
bought him, driving staples over his wrists and
ankles; an iron bar was afterwards put across
his breast, which was also held down by staples.

I asked what he had been doing, and was told
that he had done nothing amiss, but that his
master had failed, and he was sold towards
paying the debts. He lay in that state all
that night; next day he was taken to jail, and
I never saw him again. This is the usual
treatment under such circumstances. I had to
go by my mother's next morning, but I feared
to tell her what had happened to my brother:
I got a boy to go and tell her. She was blind
and very old, and was living in a little hut, in
the woods, after the usual manner of old worn-
out slaves: she was unable to go to my brother
before he was taken away, and grieved after
him greatly.

It was some time after this, that I married a
slave belonging to Mr. Enoch Sawyer, who
had been so hard a master to me. I left her
at home, (that is, at his house,) one Thursday
morning, when we had been married about
eight months. She was well, and seemed
likely to be so: we were nicely getting
together our little necessaries. On the Friday,
as I was at work as usual with the boats, I

heard a noise behind me, on the road which
ran by the side of the canal: I turned to look,
and saw a gang of slaves coming. When they
came up to me, one of them cried out, "Moses,
my dear!" I wondered who among them should
know me, and found it was my wife. She
cried out to me, "I am gone." I was struck
with consternation. Mr. Rogerson was with
them, on his horse, armed with pistols. I said
to him, "for God's sake, have you bought
my wife?" He said he had; when I asked
him what she had done; he said she had done
nothing, but that her master wanted money.
He drew out a pistol, and said that if I went
near the waggon on which she was, he would
shoot me. I asked for leave to shake hands
with her, which he refused, but said I might
stand at a distance and talk with her. My
heart was so full, that I could say very little.
I asked leave to give her a dram: he told Mr.
Burgess, the man who was with him, to get
down and carry it to her. I gave her the
little money I had in my pocket, and bid her
farewell. I have never seen or heard of her

Mr. Grice found that I served him faithfully.
He and my young mistress, his wife,
advised me as I was getting money fast, to try to
buy myself. By their advice, I asked my master
what he would take for me. He wanted 800
dollars, and when I said that was too much,
he replied, he could get 1000 for me any
minute. Mr. Grice afterwards went with me
to him: he said to him, that I had already
been more profitable to him than any five
others of his negroes, and reminded him that
we had been playfellows; in this way he got
him to consent to take 600 dollars for me. I
then went heartily to work, and whenever I
paid him for my time, I paid him something
also towards my freedom, for which he gave
me receipts. When I made him the last payment
of the 600 dollars for my freedom, he
tore up all the receipts: I told him he ought
not to have done so; he replied it did not
signify, for as soon as court-day came, he
should give me my free papers. On Monday,

in court week, I went to him; he was playing
at billiards, and would not go with me, but told
me to come again the next day: the next day
he did the same, and so on daily. I went to
his sister, Mrs. Grice, and told her I feared that
he did not mean to give them to me; she said
she feared so too, and sent for him. He was a
very wicked young man; he came, and cursed
her, and went out of the house. Mr. Grice
was from home; on his return, he went to my
master and told him he ought to give me my
free papers; that I had paid for myself, and it
was court week, so that there was no excuse.
He promised he would, instead of which he
rode away, and kept away till court was over.
Before the next court came, he sold me to Mr.
Trewitt for 600 dollars.

The way in which Mr. Trewitt came to
buy me, was this. I had left the boats, and
had gone with a schooner collecting lumber in
Albemarle Sound for the merchants. Coming
to Elizabeth City, I found a new store had
been opened by Mr. Grice, which Mr. Sutton
was keeping: the latter gentleman was glad

to see me, and was desirous that I should
return to my old employment with the canal
boats, as lumber was in great demand at Norfolk.
I did so, and sold some cargoes to Mr.
Moses Myers of Norfolk. As I was waiting,
at the door of his store for settlement, he came
up with Mr. Trewitt, whom I did not then
know. Mr. Myers said to Mr. Trewitt, "here
is a captain doing business for you." Mr.
Trewitt then asked me who had chartered the
boats, and to whom I belonged. I told him
Mr. Sutton had chartered me, and that I had
belonged to Mr. James Grandy, but had bought
myself. He said he would buy me; on which
Mr. Myers told him he could not, as I had
already bought myself, and further said, I was
one of their old war captains, and had never
lost a single thing of the property entrusted to
me. Mr. Trewitt said, he would buy me,
and would see about it as soon as he got to
Elizabeth City. I thought no more about it.
On my return voyage, I delivered a cargo at
Elizabeth City for Mr. Trewitt. I had been
at Mr. Grice's, the owner of the boats, and on

my going away from him to meet Mr. Trewitt
for settlement, he said he would go with me,
as he wanted money. Opposite the Custom
House we met Mr. Trewitt, who said, "Well,
captain, I have bought you." Mr. Grice said,
"Let us have no nonsense; go and settle with
him." Angry words passed between them,
one saying he had bought me and the other
denying that he had, or could, as I had bought
myself already. We all went to Mr. Grice's
dwelling house; there Mr. Trewitt settled
with me about the freight, and then, jumping
up, said, "Now I will show you, Mr. Grice,
whether I am a liar or not." He fetched the
bill of sale; on reading it, Mr. Grice's colour
changed, and he sent for Mrs. Grice. When
she read it, she began to cry; seeing that, I
began to cry too. She sent me to her brother,
who was at Mr. Wood's boarding house.
He was playing at billiards. I said to him,
"Master James, have you sold me?" He said
"No." I said, he had; when he turned
round and went into another room, crying; I
followed him. All the gentlemen followed

us, saying, "Captain Grandy, what is the
matter?" I told them Master James had sold
me again. They asked him why he had done
it: he said it was because people had jeered
him, by saying I had more sense than he had.
They would not suffer him to remain in the
boarding house, but turned him out, there and
then, with all his trunks and boxes. Mrs.
Grice, his sister, sued him in my name for my
liberty, but he gained the cause: the court
maintained that I, and all I could do, belonged
to him, and that he had a right to do as he
pleased with me and all my earnings, as his
own property, until he had taken me to the
Court House, and given me my free papers,
and until, besides that, I had been a year and
a day in the Northern States to gain my residence.

So I was forced to go to Mr. Trewitt. He
agreed that, if I would pay him the same
wages as I paid my late master, and the 600
dollars he gave for me, he would give me my
free papers. He bought two canal boats; and
taking me out of Mr. Grice's employment, set

me to work them on the same terms as I did
for my former master. I was two years and a
half in earning the 600 dollars to pay for myself
the second time. Just when I had completed
the payment, he failed. Oh Christmas eve he
gave me a letter to take to Mr. Mews, at Newbegun
Creek. I was rather unwilling to take
it, wishing to go to my wife; I told him, too,
I was going to his office to settle with him.
He offered to give me two dollars to take the
letter, and said he would settle when I came
back: then Mr. Shaw came from another
room, and said his vessel was ready loaded,
but he had nobody he could trust with his
goods; he offered me five dollars to take the
vessel down, and deliver the goods to Mr. Knox,
who also was at Newbegun Creek. The wind
was fair, and the hands on board, so I agreed:
it being Christmas eve, I was glad of something
to carry to my wife. I ran the vessel
down to the mouth of the Creek, and anchored:
when the moon rose, I went up the river. I
reached the wharf, and commenced taking out
the goods that night, and delivered them all

safely to Mr. Knox next morning. I then
took the letter to Mr. Mews, who read it, and
looking up at me said, "Well, you belong to
me." I thought he was joking, and said, "How?
What way?" He said, "Don't you recollect
when Trewitt chartered Wilson Sawyer's brig
to the West Indies?" I said, I did. He
told me Trewitt then came to him to borrow
600 dollars, which he would not lend except
he had a mortgage on me: Trewitt was to
take it up at a certain time, but never did. I
asked him, whether he really took the mortgage
on me? He replied that "he certainly
thought Trewitt would have taken up the
mortgage, but he had failed, and was not worth
a cent, and he, Mews, must have his money."
I asked him whether he had not helped me
and my young mistress in the Court House,
when Master James fooled me before? He
said he did help me all he could, and that
he should not have taken a mortgage on me,
but that he thought Trewitt would take it up.
Trewitt must have received some of the last
payments from me, after he had given the

mortgage, and knew he should fail; for the
mortgage was given two months before this
time.

My head seemed to turn round and round; I
was quite out of my senses; I went away
towards the woods; Mr. Mews sent his waiter
after me, to persuade me to go back: at first I
refused, but afterwards went. He told me he
would give me another chance to buy myself,
and I certainly should have my freedom this
time. He said Mr. Enoch Sawyer wanted to
buy me to be his overseer in the Swamp. I
replied, I would never try again to buy myself,
and that they had already got 1200 dollars
from me.
My wife,
(this was my second

wife) belonged to Mr. Sawyer: he told me
that her master would not allow me to go to
see her, if I would not consent to what he now
preposed: for any coloured person going on
the grounds of a white man after being warned
of, is liable to be flogged or even shot. I thus
found myself forced to go, although no coloured
man wishes to live at the house where his wife
lives, for he has to endure the continual misery
of seeing her flogged and abused, without
daring to say a word in her defence.

In the service of Mr. Sawyer, I got into a
fair way of buying myself again; for I undertook
the lightering of the shingles or boards
out of the Dismal Swamp, and hired hands to
assist me. But my master had become security
for his two sons-in-law at Norfolk, who
failed; in consequence of which, he sold

eighteen coloured people, his share of the
Swamp, and two plantations. I was one of
the slaves he kept, and after that had to work
in the corn-field the same as the rest. The
overseer was a bad one, his name was Brooks.
The horn was blown at sunrise; the coloured
people had then to march before the overseer
to the field, He on horseback. We had to
work, even in long, summer days, till twelve
o'clock, before we tasted a morsel; men, women,
and children all being served alike. At noon
the cart appeared with our breakfast. It was
in large trays, and was set on the ground.
There was bread, of which a piece was cut off
for each person; then there was small hominy
boiled, (that is, Indian corn, ground in the
hand-mill) and besides this, two herrings for
each of the men and women, and one for each
of the children. Our drink was the water in
the ditches, whatever might be its state; if the
ditches were dry, water was brought to us by
boys. The salt fish made us always thirsty,
but no other drink than water was ever
allowed. However thirsty a slave may be,

he is not allowed to leave his employment
for a moment to get water; he can only
have it when the hands in working have
reached the ditch at the end of the rows.
The overseer stood with his watch in his
hand, to give us just an hour; when he
said "rise," we had to rise and go to work
again. The women who had children laid
them down by the hedge-row, and gave them
straws and other trifles to play with: here
they were in danger from snakes. I have seen
a large snake found coiled round the neck and
face of a child, when its mother went to suckle
it at dinner time. The hands work in a line,
by the side of each other; the overseer puts
the swiftest hands in the fore row, and all must
keep up with them. One black man is kept
on purpose to whip the others in the field; if
he does not flog with sufficient severity, he is
flogged himself: he whips severely, to keep
the whip from his own back. If a man has
a wife in the same field with himself; he chooses
a row by the side of hers, that with extreme
labour he may, if possible, help her. But he

will not be in the same field if he can help it;
for with his hardest labour, he often cannot
save her from being flogged, and he is obliged
to stand by and see it; he is always liable to
see her taken home at night, stripped naked,
and whipped before all the men. On the estate
I am speaking of, those women who had sucking
children suffered much from their breasts
becoming full of milk, the infants being left
at home; they therefore could not keep up with
the other hands: I seen the overseer beat
them with raw hide, so that blood and milk
flew mingled from their breasts. A woman
who gives offence in the field, and is large in
the family way, is compelled to lie down over
a hole made to receive her, and is then flogged
with the whip, or beaten with a paddle,
which has holes in it; at every hole comes a
blister. One of my sisters was so severely
punished in this way, that labour was brought
on, and the child was born in the field. This
very overseer, Mr. Brooks, killed in this
manner a girl named Mary: her father and
mother were in the field at the time. He

also killed a boy about twelve years old. He
had no punishment, or even trial, for either.

There was no dinner till dark, when he gave
the order to knock off and go home. The meal
then was the same as in the morning) except
that we had meat twice a-week.

On very few estates are the coloured people
provided with any bedding; the best masters
give only a blanket; this master gave none.
A board, which the slave might pick up anywhere
on the estate, was all he had to lie on.
If he wished to procure bedding, he could only
do so by working at nights. For warmth,
therefore, the negroes generally sleep near a
large fire, whether in the kitchen, or in their
log, huts; their legs are often in this way
blistered and greatly swelled, and sometimes
badly burnt: they suffer severely from this
cause.

When the water-mill did not supply meal
enough, we had to grind with the hand-mill.
The night was employed in this work, without
any thing being taken from the labour of the
day. We had to take turn at it, women as

I was eight months in the field. My
master, Mr. Sawyer, agreed to allow me eight
dollars a month, while so employed, towards
buying myself: it will be seen he did not give
me even that. When I first went to work in
the corn field, I had paid him 230 dollars
towards this third buying of my freedom. I
told him one night, I could not stand his field
work any longer; he asked, why; I said I
was almost starved to death, and had long
been unaccustomed to this severe labour. He
wanted to know why I could not stand it as
well as the rest. I told him, he knew well
I had not been used to it for a long time;
that his overseer was the worst that had ever
been on the plantation, and that I could not
stand it. He said he would direct Mr. Brooks
to give each of us a pint of meal or corn every
evening, which we might bake, and which
would serve us next morning, till our breakfast
came at noon. The black people were
much rejoiced that I got this additional allowance

One Sunday morning, as
Master was sitting in his porch, I went to him and offered to give
him the 230 dollars I had already paid him, if,
beside them, he would take for my freedom the
600 dollars he had given for me. He drove
me away, saying, I had no way to get the
money. I sat down for a time, and went to
him again: I repeated my offer to procure the
600 dollars, and he again said, I could not.
He called his wife out of the room to the porch,
and said to her, "Don't you think Moses has
taken to getting drunk?" She asked me if it
was so; I denied it, when she inquired what
was the matter. Master replied, "Don't you
think he wants me to sell him?" She said,
"Moses, we would not take any money for
you. Captain Cormack put a thousand dollars
for you on the supper table last Friday night,
and Mr. Sawyer would not touch it: he wants
you to be overseer in the Dismal Swamp." I
replied, "Captain Cormack never said anything
to me about buying me: I would cut my throat

from ear to ear rather than go to him. I know
what made him say so; he is courting Miss
Patsey, and he did it to make himself look
big". Mistress laughed and turned away, and
slammed to the door: Master shook himself
with laughing, and put the paper he was reading
before his face, knowing that I spoke the
truth. Captain Cormack was an old man who
went on crutches: Miss Patsey was the finest
of master's daughters. Master drove me away
from him again.

On Monday morning, Mr. Brooks, the overseer,
blew the horn as usual for all to go to the
field. I refused to go. I went to master and
told him that if he would give me a paper, I
would go and fetch the 600 dollars; he then
gave me a paper, stating that he was willing
to take that sum for my freedom; so I hired
an old horse and started for Norfolk; fifty
miles off.

When I reached Deep Creek, I went to the
house of Captain Edward Minner. He was
very glad to see me, for in former days I had
done much business for him: he said how

sorry he had been to hear that I was at field-
work. He inquired where I was going. I
said to Norfolk, to get some of the merchants
to let me have money to buy myself. He
replied, "What did I always say to you? Was
it not, that I would let you have the money at
any time, if you would only tell me when you
could be sold?" He called Mrs. Minner into
the room, and told her I could be sold for my
freedom: she was rejoiced to hear it. He said,
"Put up your horse at Mr. Western's Tavern,
for you need go no farther; I have plenty of
old rusty dollars, and no man shall put his
hand on your collar again to say you are a
slave. Come and stay with me to-night, and
in the morning I will get Mr. Garrett's horse,
and go with you."

Next morning we set off, and found master
at Major Farrance's, at the cross canal, where
I knew he was to be that day, to sell his share
of the canal. When I saw him he told me to
go forward home, for he would not sell me. I
felt sick and sadly disappointed. Captain Minner
stepped up to him and shewed him

the paper he had given me, saying, "Mr.
Sawyer, is not this your handwriting?" He
replied, "Mistress said, the last word when I
came away, I was not to sell him, but send
him home again." Captain Minner said,
"Mind, gentlemen, I do not want him for a
slave; I want to buy him for freedom. He
will repay me the money, and I shall not
charge him a cent of interest for it. I would
not have a coloured person to drag me down
to hell, for all the money in the world." A
gentleman who was by said it was a shame
I should be so treated; I had bought myself
so often that Mr. Sawyer ought to let me go.
The very worst man as an overseer over the
persons employed in digging the canal, Mr.
Wiley M'Pherson, was there: he was never
known to speak in favour of a coloured person;
even he said that Mr. Sawyer ought to let me
go, as I had been sold so often. At length Mr.
Sawyer consented I should go for 650 dollars
and would take no less. I wished Captain
Minner to give the extra 50 dollars, and not
to stand about it. I believe it was what

M'Pherson said that induced my master to let
me go: for he was well known for his great
severity to coloured people, so that after even he
had said so, master could not stand out. The
Lord must have opened M'Pherson's heart
to say it.

I have said this M'Pherson was an overseer
where slaves were employed in cutting canals.
The labour there is very severe. The ground is
often very boggy: the negroes are up to the
middle or much deeper in mud and water, cutting
away roots and baling out mud: if they
can keep their heads above water, they work
on. They lodge in huts, or as they are called
camps, made of shingles or boards. They lie
down in the mud which has adhered to them,
making a great fire to dry themselves, and
keep off the cold. No bedding whatever is
allowed them; it is only by work done over
his task, that any of them can get a blanket.
They are paid nothing except for this overwork.
Their masters come once a month to
receive the money for their labour: then perhaps
some few very good masters will give

them two dollars each, some others one dollar,
some a pound of tobacco, and some nothing at
all. The food is more abundant than that of
field slaves; indeed it is the best allowance in
America: it consists of a peck of meal, and six
pounds of pork per week; the pork is commonly
not good, it is damaged, and is bought
as cheap as possible at auctions.

M'Pherson gave the same task to each
slave; of course the weak ones often failed to
do it. I have often seen him tie up persons
and flog them in the morning, only because
they were unable to get the previous day's
task done: after they were flogged, pork or
beef brine was put on their bleeding backs, to
increase the pain; he sitting by resting himself,
and seeing it done. After being thus
flogged and pickled, the sufferers often remained
tied up all day, the feet just touching
the ground, the legs tied, and pieces of wood
put between the legs. All the motion allowed
was a slight turn of the neck. Thus exposed
and helpless, the yellow flies and musquitoes
in great numbers would settle on the bleeding

and smarting back, and put the sufferer to
extreme torture. This continued all day, for
they were not taken down till night. In flogging,
he would sometimes tie the slave's shirt
over his head, that he might not flinch when
the blow was coming: sometimes he would
increase his misery, by blustering and calling
out that he was coming to flog again, which
he did or did not, as happened. I have seen
him flog slaves with his own hands, till their
entrails were visible; and I have seen the sufferers
dead when they were taken down. He
never was called to account in any way for it.

It is not uncommon for flies to blow the
sores made by flogging. In that case, we get a
strong weed growing in those parts, called the
Oak of Jerusalem; we boil it at night, and
wash the sores with the liquor, which is extremely
bitter: on this, the creepers or maggots
come out. To relieve them in some degree
after severe flogging, their fellow-slaves rub
their backs with part of their little allowance
of fat meat.

unable to work from flogging, He kept them
chained till they could work again. This
man had from 500 to 700 men under his
control. When out of other employment, I
sometimes worked under him, and saw his
doings. I believe it was the word of this man
which gained my freedom. He is dead, but
there are yet others like him on public works.

When the great kindness of Captain Minner
had set me clear of Mr. Enoch Sawyer, I went
to my old occupation of working the canal
boats. These I took on shares as before.
After a time, I was disabled for a year from
following this employment by a severe attack
of rheumatism, caught by frequent exposure to
severe weather. I was anxious however to be
earning something towards the repayment of
Captain Minner, lest any accident unforeseen
by him or me, should even yet deprive me of
the liberty for which I so longed, and for which
I had suffered so much. I therefore had myself
carried in a lighter up a cross canal in the
Dismal Swamp, and to the other side of Drummond's
Lake. I was left on the shore and

there I built myself a little hut, and had provisions
brought to me as opportunity served.
Here, among, snakes, bears, and panthers, whenever
my strength was sufficient, I cut down a
juniper tree, and converted it into cooper's
timber. The camp, like those commonly set
up for negroes, was entirely open on one side;
on that side a fire is lighted at night, and the
person sleeping puts his feet towards it. One
night I was awoke by some large animal smelling
my face, and snuffing strongly; I felt its
cold muzzle. I suddenly thrust out my arms,
and shouted with all my might; it was frightened
and made off. I do not know whether
it was a bear or a panther, but it seemed as
tall as a large calf. I slept of course no more
that night. I put my trust in the Lord, and
continued on the spot; I was never attacked
again.

I recovered, and went to the canal boats again.
By the end of three years from the time he laid
down the money, I entirely repaid my very
kind and excellent friend. During this time he
made no claim whatever on my services; I was

altogether on the footing of a free man, as far
as a coloured man can there be free.

When, at length, I had repaid Captain
Minner, and had got my free papers, so that my
freedom was quite secure, my feelings were
greatly excited. I felt to myself so light, that
I almost thought I could fly, and in my sleep
I was always dreaming of flying over woods
and rivers. My gait was so altered by my
gladness, that people often stopped me, saying,
"Grandy, what is the matter?" I excused
myself as well as I could; but many perceived
the reason, and said, "Oh ! he is so pleased
with having got his freedom." Slavery will
teach any man to be glad when he gets
freedom.

My good master, Captain Minner, sent me
to Providence, in Rhode Island, to stay a year
and a day in order to gain my residence. But
I stayed only two months. Mr. Howard's vessel
came there laden with corn. I longed much
to see my master and mistress for the kindness
they had done me, and so went home in the
schooner. On my arrival, I did not stop at

my own house, except to ask my wife at the
door how she and the children were in health,
but went up the town to see Captain and
Mrs. Minner. They were very glad to see me,
and consulted with me about my way of getting
a living. I wished to go on board the New
York and Philadelphia Packets, but feared I
should be troubled for my freedom. Captain
Minner thought I might venture, and I therefore
engaged myself. I continued in that employment
till his death, which happened about
a year after my return from Providence. Then
I returned to Boston; for, while he lived, I
knew I could rely on his protection; but when
I lost my friend, I thought it best to go wholly
to the Northern States.

At Boston I went to work at sawing wood,
sawing with the whip-saw, labouring in the
coal yards, loading and unloading vessels, &c.
After labouring in this way for a few months,
I went a voyage to St. John's in Porto Rico,
with Captain Cobb, in the schooner, New
Packet. On the return voyage, the vessel got
ashore on Cape Cod: we left her, after doing in

vain what we could to right her; she was
afterwards recovered. I went several other
voyages, and particularly two to the Mediterranean.
The last was to the East Indies, in
the ship James Murray, Captain Woodbury;
owner, Mr. Gray. My entire savings up to the
period of my return from this voyage amounted
to 300 dollars; I sent it to Virginia, and bought
my wife. She came to me at Boston. I dared
not go myself to fetch her, lest I should be
again deprived of my liberty, as often happens
to free coloured people.

At the time called the time of the Insurrection,
about eight years ago, when the whites
said the coloured people were going to rise,
and shot, hanged, and otherwise destroyed
many of them, Mrs. Minner thought she
saw me in the street, and fainted there. The
soldiers were seizing all the blacks they could
find, and she knew if I were there, I should be
sure to suffer with the rest. She was mistaken;
I was not there.

My son's master at Norfolk sent a letter to
me at Boston to say, that if I could raise 450

dollars, I might have his freedom; he was
then fifteen years old. I had again saved 300
dollars. I knew the master was a drinking
man, and I was therefore very anxious to get
my son out of his hands. I went to Norfolk
running the risk of my liberty, and took my
300 dollars with me, to make the best bargain
I could. Many gentlemen, my friends, in
Boston, advised me not to go myself: but I
was anxious to get my boy's freedom, and I
knew that nobody in Virginia had any cause of
complaint against me; so, notwithstanding
their advice, I determined to
go.

When the vessel arrived there, they said it
was against the law for me to go ashore. The
mayor of the city said, I had been among the
cursed Yankees too long. He asked me whether
I did not know, that it was unlawful for me
to land; to which I replied, that I did not
know it, for I could neither read nor write.
The merchants for whom I had formerly done
business came on board, and said they cared
for neither the mare (mayor) nor the horse,
and insisted that I should go ashore. I told

the mayor the business on which I came, and
he gave me leave to stay nine days, telling me
that if I were not gone in that time, he would
sell me for the good of the State.

I offered my boy's master the 300 dollars:
he counted the money, but put it back to me,
refusing to take less than 450 dollars. I went
on board, to return to Boston. We met with
head winds, and put back three times to
Norfolk, anchoring each time Just opposite the
jail. The nine days had expired, and I feared
the mayor would find me on board and sell me.
I could see the jail full of coloured people, and
even the whipping post, at which they were
constantly enduring the lash. While we were
lying there by the jail, two vessels came from
Eastern Shore, Virginia, laden with cattle and
coloured people. The cattle were lowing for
their calves, and the men and women were
crying for their husbands, wives, or children.
The cries and groans were terrible, notwithstanding
there was a whipper on board each
vessel, trying to compel the poor creatures to
keep silence. These vessels lay close to ours.

I had been a long time away from such scenes;
the sight affected me very much, and added
greatly to my fears.

One day, I saw a boat coming from the
shore with white men in it. I thought they
were officers coming to take me; and such was
my horror of slavery, that I twice ran to the
ship's waist, to jump overboard into the strong
ebb-tide then running, to drown myself: but
a strong impression on my mind restrained me
each time.

Once more we got under way for New York;
but meeting again with head winds, we ran
into Maurice's River, in Delaware Bay. New
Jersey, in which that place lies, is not a slave
state. So I said to the captain, "Let me have
a boat, and set me on the free land once-more,
then I will travel home overland; for I will
not run the risk of going back to Virginia any
more." The captain said there was no danger,
but I exclaimed, "No! no! captain, I will
not try it; put my feet on free land once again,
and I shall be safe." When I once more
touched the free land, the burthen of my mind

was removed: if two ton weight had been
taken of me, the relief would not have seemed
so great.

From Maurice's Creek I traveled to Philadelphia,
and at that place had a letter written
to my wife at Boston, thanking God that I
was on free land again. On arriving at Boston,
I borrowed 160 dollars of a friend, and going
to New York I obtained the help of Mr.
John Williams to send the 450 dollars to
Norfolk: thus, at length, I bought my son's
freedom. I met him at New York, and
brought him on to Boston.

Six others of my children, three boys and
three girls, were sold to New Orleans. Two of
these daughters have bought their own freedom.
The eldest of them, Catherine, was sold
three times after she was taken away from
Virginia: the first time was by auction. Her
last master but one was a Frenchman: she
worked in his sugar-cane and cotton fields.
Another Frenchman inquired for a girl on
whom he could depend, to wait on his wife,
who was in a consumption. Her master

offered him my daughter; they went into the
field to see her, and the bargain was struck.
Her new master gave her up to his sick wife,
on whom she waited till her death. As she
had waited exceedingly well on his wife, her
master offered her a chance of buying her
freedom. She objected to his terms as too
high; for he required her to pay him four
dollars a week out of her earnings, and 1200
dollars for her freedom. He said he could get
more for her, and told her she might get plenty
of washing at a dollar a dozen; at last she
agreed. She lived near the river side, and
obtained plenty of work. So anxious was she
to obtain her freedom, that she worked nearly
all her time, days and nights, and Sundays.
She found, however, she gained nothing by
working on Sundays, and therefore left it off.
She paid her master punctually her weekly
hire and also something towards her freedom,
for which he gave her receipts. A good
stewardess was wanted for a steam boat on the
Mississippi; she was hired for the place at
thirty dollars a-month, which is the usual

salary: she also had liberty to sell apples and
oranges on board; and commonly, the passengers
give from twenty-five cents to a dollar, to a
stewardess who attends them Well. Her entire
incoming, wages and all, amounted to about
sixty dollars a-month. She remained at this
employment till she had paid the entire sum of
1200 dollars for her freedom.

As soon as she obtained her free papers, she
left the steam-boat, thinking she could find her
sister Charlotte. Her two first trials were
unsuccessful: but On the third attempt she
found her at work in the cane-field. She
shewed her sister's master her own free papers,
and told him how she had bought herself: he
said, that if her sister would pay him as much
as she paid her master, she might go too. They
agreed, and he gave her a pass. The two
sisters went on board a steam-boat, and worked
together for the wages of one, till they had
saved the entire 1200 dollars for the freedom
of the second sister. The husband of
Charlotte was dead: her children were left
behind in the cotton and cane-fields; their

master refuses to take less than 2400 dollars
for them: their names and ages are as follows:
Zeno, about fifteen; Antoinette, about thirteen;
Joseph, about eleven; and Josephine about ten
years old.

Of my other children, I only know that
one, a girl named Betsy, is a little way from
Norfolk in Virginia. Her master, Mr. William
Dixon, is willing to sell her for 500 dollars.

I do not know where any of my other four
children are, nor whether they be dead or alive.
It will be very difficult to find them out; for the
names of slaves are commonly changed with
every change of master: they usually bear the
name of the master to whom they belong at
the time. They have no family name of their
own by which they can be traced. Owing to
this circumstance, and their ignorance of reading
and writing, to which they are compelled
by law, all trace between parents and their
children who are separated from them in childhood,
is lost in a few years. When, therefore,
a child is sold away from its mother, she feels
that she is parting from it for ever: there is

little likelihood of her ever knowing what of
good or evil befals it. The way of finding
out a friend or relative, who has been sold away
for any length of time, or to any great distance,
is to trace him, if possible, to one master
after another; or if that cannot be done, to
inquire about the neighbourhood where he is
supposed to be, until some one is found who
can tell that such a person belonged to
such or such a master: and the person supposed
to be the one sought for, may perhaps
remember the names of the persons to whom
his father and mother belonged. There is little
to be learnt from his appearance, for so many
years may have passed away, that he may have
grown out of the memory of his parents, or
his nearest relations. There are thus no lasting
family ties to bind relations together, not even
the nearest, and this aggravates their distress
when they are sold from each other. I have
little hope of finding my four children again.

I have lived at Boston ever since I bought
my freedom, except during the last year, which
I have spent at Portland, in the state of Maine.

I have yet said nothing of my father. He
was often sold through the failure of his successive
owners. When I was a little boy, he
was sold away from us to a distance: he was
then so far off, that he could not come to see us
oftener than once a year. After that, he was
sold to go still further away, and then he
could not come at all. I do not know what
has become of him.

When my mother became old, she was sent
to live in a little lonely log-hut in the woods.
Aged and worn out slaves, whether men or
women, are commonly so treated. No care is
taken of them, except, perhaps, that a little
ground is cleared about the hut, on which the
old slave, if able, may raise a little corn. As
far as the owner is concerned, they live or die
as it happens; is is just the same thing as
turning out an old horse. Their children or
other near relations, if living in the neighbourhood,
take it by turns to go at night, with a
supply saved out of their own scanty allowance
of food, as well as to cut wood and fetch
water for them: this is done entirely through

the good feelings of the slaves, and not through
the masters' taking care that it is done. On
these night-visits, the aged inmate of the hut is
often found crying, on account of sufferings
from disease or extreme weakness, or from
want of food and water in the course of the
day: many a time, when I have drawn near
to my mother's hut, I have heard her grieving
and crying on these accounts: she was old
and blind too, and so unable to help herself.
She was not treated worse than others: it
is the general practice. Some few good
masters do not treat their old slaves so: they
employ them in doing light jobs about the
house and garden.

My eldest sister is in Elizabeth City. She
has five children, who, of course, are slaves.
Her master is willing to sell her for 100 dollars:
she is growing old. One of her children,
a young man, cannot be bought under 900
dollars.

My sister Tamar, who belonged to the same
master with myself, had children very fast.
Her husband had hard owners, and lived at a

distance. When a woman who has many children
belongs to an owner who is under age, as
ours was, it is customary to put her and the
children out yearly to the person who will
maintain them for the least money, the person
taking them having the benefit of whatever
work the woman can do. But my sister was
put to herself in the woods. She had a bit of
ground cleared, and was left to hire herself out
to labour. On the ground she raised corn and
flax; and obtained a peck of corn, some herrings,
or a piece of meat for a day's work
among the neighbouring owners. In this way
she brought up her children. Her husband
could help her but little. As soon as each of
the children became big enough, it was sold
away from her.

After parting thus with five, she was sold
along with the sixth, (about a year and a half
old,) to the speculators; these are persons who
buy slaves in Carolina and Virginia, to sell
them in Georgia and New Orleans. After
travelling with them more than 100 miles, she
made her escape, but could not obtain her

child to take it with her. On her journey
homeward, she traveled by night, and hid herself
in thick woods by day. She was in great
danger on the road, but in three weeks reached
the woods near us. There she had to keep herself
concealed; I, my mother, and her husband
knew where she was: she lived in a den she
made for herself. She sometimes ventured
down to my mother's hut, where she was hid
in a hollow under the floor. Her husband
lived twenty-five miles off: he would sometimes
set off after his day's work was done,
spend part of the night with her, and get back
to work before next sunrise: sometimes he
would spend Sunday with her. We all supplied
her with such provisions as we could
save. It was necessary to be very careful in
visiting her; we tied pieces of wood or bundles
of rags to our feet that no track might be made.

In the wood she had three children born;
one of them died. She had not recovered
from the birth of the youngest, when she was
discovered and taken to the house of her old
master.

She was afterwards sold to Culpepper, who
used her very cruelly. He was beating her
dreadfully, and the blood was streaming from
her head and back, one day when I happened
to go to his house. I was greatly grieved, and
asked his leave to find a person to buy her:
instead of answering me, he struck at me with
an axe, and I was obliged to get away as fast
as I could. Soon after, he failed, and she was
offered for sale in Norfolk; there Mr. Johnson
bought her and her two children, out of friendship
for me: he treated her exceedingly well,
and she served him faithfully: but it was not
long before she was claimed by a person, to
whom Culpepper had mortgaged her before he
sold her to Johnson. This person sold her to
Long, of Elizabeth City, where again she was
very badly treated. After a time, Long
sold her to go to Georgia: she was very in at
the time, and was taken away in a cart. I
hear from her sometimes, and am very anxious
to purchase her freedom, if ever I should be
able. Two of her children are now in North
Carolina, and are longing to obtain their freedom.

I know nothing of the others, nor am I
likely ever to hear of them again.

The treatment of slaves is mildest near the
borders, where the free and slave states join:
it becomes more severe, the further we go from
the free states. It is more severe in the west
and south than where I lived. The sale of
slaves most frequently takes place from the
milder to the severer parts: in that directtion,
there is great traffic in slaves, which is
carried on by the speculators. On the frontier
between the slave and free states there is a
guard; no coloured person can go over a ferry
without a pass. By these regulations, and the
great numbers of patrols, escape is made very
difficult.

Formerly slaves were allowed to have religious
meetings of their own; but after the
insurrection which I spoke of before, they were
forbidden to meet even for worship. Often
they are flogged, if they are found singing or
praying at home. They may go to the places of
worship used by the whites; but they like their
own meetings better. My wife's brother Isaac

was a coloured preacher. A number of slaves
went privately into the wood to hold meetings;
when they were found out, they were flogged,
and each was forced to tell who else was there.
Three were shot, two of whom were killed,
and the other was badly wounded. For
preaching to them, Isaac was flogged, and his
back pickled; when he was nearly well, he
was flogged and pickled again, and so on for
some months; then his back was suffered to
get well, and he was sold. A little while
before this, his wife was sold away with an
infant at her breast; and of his six children,
four had been sold away by one at a time.
On the way with his buyers he dropped down
dead; his heart was broken.

Having thus narrated what has happened to
myself, my relatives, and near friends, I will
add a few matters about slaves and coloured
persons in general.

Slaves are under fear in every word they
speak. If in their master's kitchen they let
slip an expression of discontent, or a wish for
freedom, it is often reported to the master or
mistress by the children of the family, who may

I have already said that it is forbidden by
law to teach coloured persons to read or write.
A few well disposed white young persons, of
the families to which the slaves belonged, have
ventured to teach them, but they dare not let
it be known they have done so.

The proprietors get new land cleared in this
way. They first "dead" a piece of ground in
the woods adjoining the plantation. By "deading"
is meant killing the trees, by cutting a
nick all round each, quite through the bark.
Out of this ground each coloured person has a
piece as large as he can tend after his other
work is done: the women have pieces in like
manner. The slave works at night, cutting
down the timber and clearing the ground;
after it is cleared, he has it for his own use for
two or three years, as may be agreed on. As
these new clearings lie between the woods and
the old cultivated land, the squirrels and racoons first come at the crops on them, and thus
those on the planters' land are saved from
much waste. When the negro has had the

land for the specified time, and it has become
fit for the plough, the master takes it, and he
is removed to another new piece. It is no
uncommon thing for the land to be taken from
him before the time is out, if it has sooner become
fit for the plough. When the crop is
gathered, the master comes to see how much
there is of it; he then gives the negro an order
to sell that quantity; without that order, no
storekeeper dare buy it. The slave lays out
the money in something tidy, to go to meeting
in, and something to take to his wife.

The evidence of a black man, or of ever so
many black men, stands for nothing against that
of one white; in consequence of this, the free
negroes are liable to great cruelties. They have
had their dwellings entered, their bedding and
furniture destroyed, themselves, their wives,
and children beaten; some have even been
taken, with their wives, into the woods, and
tied up, flogged, and left there. There is
nothing which a white man may not do
against a black one, if he only takes care that
no other white man can give evidence against
him.

A law has lately been passed in New Orleans,
prohibiting any free coloured person from
going there.

The coasting packets of the ports on the
Atlantic, commonly have coloured cooks. When
a vessel goes from New York or Boston to a
port in the slave-holding estates, the black cook
is usually put in jail till the vessel sails again.

No coloured person can travel without a pass.
If he cannot show it, he may be flogged by
any body; in such a case, he often is seized and
flogged by the patrols. all through the slave
states there are patrols; they are so numerous
that they cannot easily be escaped.

The only time when a man can visit his
wife, when they are on different estates, is
Saturday evening and Sunday. If they be
very near to each other, he may sometimes see
her on Wednesday evening. He must always
return to his work by sunrise; if he fail to do
so, he is flogged. When he has got together all
the little things he can for his wife and children,
and has walked many miles to see them, he
may find that they have all been sold away,
some in one direction, and some in another.

He gives up all hope of seeing them again,
but he dare not utter a word of complaint.

It often happens that when a slave wishes
to visit his wife on another plantation, his own
master is busy or from home, and therefore he
cannot get a pass. He ventures without it.
If there be any little spite against his wife, or
himself, he maybe asked for it when he arrives;
and not having it, he may be beaten with
thirty-nine stripes, and sent away. On his
return he may be seized by the patrol, and
flogged again for the same reason, and he will
not wonder if he is again seized and beaten for
the third time.

If a negro has given offence to the patrol,
even by so innocent a matter as dressing tidily
to go to a place of worship, he will be seized
by one of them, and another will tear up his
pass: while one is flogging him, the others
will look another way; so when he or his
master make complaint of his having been
beaten without cause, and he points out the
person who did it, the others will swear they
saw no one beat him. His oath, being that of
a black man, would stand for nothing, but he

may not even be sworn; and in such a case
his tormentors are safe, for they were the
only whites present.

In all the slave states there are men who
make a trade of whipping negroes: they ride
about inquiring for jobs of persons who keep
no overseer; if there is a negro to be whipped,
whether man or woman, this man is employed
when he calls, and does it immediately; his
fee is half a dollar. Widows and other females
having negroes, get them whipped in this
way. Many mistresses will insist on the slave
who has been flogged, begging pardon for her
fault on her knees, and thanking her for the
correction.

A white man who lived near me in Camden
county, Thomas Evidge, followed this business.
He was also sworn-whipper at the Court
House. A law was passed that any white man
detected in stealing should be whipped. Mr.
Dozier frequently missed hogs, and flogged
many of his negroes on suspicion of stealing
them: when he could not in his suspicions fix
on any one in particular, he flogged them all
round, saying that he was sure of having

punished the right one. Being one day shooting
in his woods, he heard the report of another
gun, and shortly after met David Evidge, the
nephew of the whipper, with one of his hogs on
his back which had just been shot: David was
sent to prison, convicted of the theft, and sentenced
to be flogged. His uncle, who vapoured
about greatly in flogging slaves, and taunted
them with unfeeling speeches while he did it,
could not bear the thought of flogging his
nephew, and hired a man to do it. The person
pitched on, chanced to be a sailor; he laid it
well on the thief: pleased enough were the
coloured people to see a white back for the first
time subjected to the lash.

Another man of the same business, George
Wilkins, did no greater credit to the trade.
Mr. Carnie, on Western Branch, Virginia,
often missed corn from his barn. Wilkins,
the whipper, was very officious in pointing
out this slave and that, as very likely to be
the thief: with nothing against them but his
insinuations, some were severely punished,
being flogged by this very Wilkins; and others,
at his instigation, were sold away. One night

Mr. Carnie, unknown to his coloured people,
set a steel trap in the barn. Some of the
negroes, passing the barn before morning, saw
Wilkins standing there, but were not aware he
was caught. They called the master, that he
might seize the thief before he could escape:
he came and teased Wilkins during the night;
in the morning he exposed him to the view of
the neighbours, and then set him at liberty
without further punishment.

The very severe punishments to which slaves
are subjected for trifling offences or none at all,
their continued liability to all kinds of in usage
without a chance of redress, and the agonizing
feelings they endure at being separated from
the dearest connexions, drive many of them to
desperation, and they abscond. They hide
themselves in the woods, where they remain
for months, and in some cases for years. When
caught, they are flogged with extreme severity,
their backs are pickled and the flogging repeated
as before described. After months of this
torture the back is allowed to heal, and the slave
is sold away. Especially is this done when
the slave has attempted to reach a free state.

In violent thunder-storms, when the whites
have got between feather beds to be safe from
the lightning, I have often seen negroes, the
aged as well as others, go out, and lifting up
their hands, thank God that judgment was
coming at last. So cruelly are many of them
used, that judgment, they think, would be a
happy release from their horrible slavery.

The proprietors, though they live in luxury,
generally die in debt: their negroes are so
hardly treated, that no profit is made by their
labour. Many of them are great gamblers.
At the death of a proprietor, it commonly
happens that his coloured people are sold
towards paying his debts. So it must and
will be with the masters, while slavery continues:
when freedom is established, I believe
they will begin to prosper greatly.

Before I close this Narrative, I ought to
express my grateful thanks to the many friends
in the Northern States, who have encouraged
and assisted me: I shall never forget to speak
of their kindness, and to pray for their prosperity.
I am delighted to say, that not only
to myself, but to very many other coloured

persons, they have lent a benevolent helping
hand. Last year, gentlemen whom I know
bought no less than ten families from slavery,
and this year they are pursuing the same good
work. But for these numerous and heavy
claims on their means and their kindness, I
should have had no need to appeal to the
generosity of the British public; they would
gladly have helped me to redeem all my children
and relations.

When I first went to the Northern States,
which is about ten years ago, although I was
free as to the law, I was made to feel severely
the difference between persons of different
colours. No black man was admitted to the
same seats in churches with the whites, nor to
the inside of public conveyances, nor into street
coaches or cabs: we had to be content with
the decks of steam-boats in all weathers, night
and day, -- not even our wives or children being
allowed to go below, however it might rain, or
snow, or freeze; in various other ways, we
were treated as though we were of a race of
men below the whites. But the abolitionists
boldly stood up for us, and through them things

are much changed for the better. Now, we
may sit in any part of many places of worship,
and are even asked into the pews of respectable
white families; many public conveyances now
make no distinction between white and black.
We begin to feel that we are really on the
same footing as our fellow citizens. They see
we can and do conduct ourselves with propriety,
and they are now admitting us in
many cases to the same standing with themselves.

During the struggles which have procured
for us this justice from our fellow-citizens, we
have been in the habit of looking in public
places for some well-known abolitionists, and
if none that we knew were there, we addressed
any person dressed as a Quaker; these classes
always took our part against ill usage, and we
have to thank them for many a contest in our
behalf.

We were greatly delighted by the zealous
efforts and powerful eloquence in our cause of
Mr. George Thompson, who came from our
English friends to aid our suffering brethren.
He was hated and mobbed by bad men amongst

the whites; they put his life in great danger,
and threatened destruction to all who sheltered
him. We prayed for him, and did all we
could to defend him. The Lord preserved him,
and thankful were we when he escaped from our
country with his life. At that time, and ever
since, we have had a host of American friends,
who have laboured for the cause night and
day; they have nobly stood up for the rights
and honour of the coloured man; but they did
so at first in the midst of scorn and danger.
Now, thank God, the case is very different
Mr. William Lloyd Garrison, who was hunted
for his life by a mob in the streets of Boston
has lately been chairman of a large meeting
in favour of abolition, held in Fanueil Hall,
the celebrated public hall of Boston, called
"the Cradle of Liberty."

I am glad to say also, that numbers of my
coloured brethren now escape from slavery;
some by purchasing their freedom, others by
quitting, through many dangers and hardships,
the land of bondage. The latter suffer many
privations in their attempts to reach the free
states. They hide themselves during the day

in the woods and swamps; at night they travel,
crossing rivers by swimming, or by boats they
may chance to meet with, and passing over
hills and meadows which they do not know;
in these dangerous journeys they are guided by
the north-star, for they only know that the
land of freedom is in the north. They subsist
on such wild fruit as they can gather, and
as they are often very long on their way, they
reach the free states almost like skeletons. On
their arrival, they have no friends but such as
pity those who have been in bondage, the number
of which, I am happy to say, is increasing;
but if they can meet with a man in a broadbrimmed
hat and Quaker coat, they speak to
him without fear-relying on him as a friend.
At each place the escaped slave inquires for an
abolitionist or a Quaker, and these friends of the
coloured man help them on their journey northwards,
until they are out of the reach of
danger.

Our untiring friends, the abolitionists, once
obtained a law that no coloured person should
be seized as a slave within the free states; this
law would have been of great service to us, by

ridding us of all anxiety about our freedom
while we remained there; but I am sorry to
say, that it has lately been repealed, and that
now, as before, any coloured person who is
said to be a slave, may be seized in the free
states and carried away, no matter how long he
may have resided there, as also may his children
and their children, although they all may have
been born there. I hope this law will soon be
altered again. At present, many escaped slaves
are forwarded by their friends to Canada
where, under British rule, they are quite safe.
There is a body of ten thousand of them in
Upper Canada; they are known for their good
order, and loyalty to the British government;
during the late troubles, they could always be
relied on for the defence of the British possessions,
against the lawless Americans who
attempted to invade them.

As to the settlement of Liberia on the coast
of Africa, the free coloured people of America
do not willingly go to it. America is their
home: if their forefathers lived in Africa, they
themselves know nothing of that country
None but free coloured people are taken there:

if they would take slaves, they might have
plenty of colonists. Slaves will go any where
for freedom.

We look very much to Great Britain and
Ireland for help. Whenever we hear of the
British or Irish people doing good to black
men, we are delighted, and run to tell each
other the news. Our kind friends, the abolitionists,
are very much encouraged when they
hear of meetings and speeches in England in our
cause. The first of August, the day when the
slaves in the West Indies were made free, is
always kept as a day of rejoicing by the
American coloured free people.

I do hope and believe that the cause of freedom
to the blacks is becoming stronger and
stronger every day. I pray for the time to
come when freedom shall be established all
over the world. Then will men love as brethren;
they will delight to do good to one
another; and they will thankfully worship the
Father of all.

And now I have only to repeat my hearty
thanks to all who have done any thing towards
obtaining liberty for my coloured brethren, and

especially to express my gratitude to those
who have helped me to procure for myself, my
wife, and some of my children, the blessing
of freedom, -- a blessing of which none can
know the value but he who has been a slave.
Whatever profit may be obtained by the sale
of this book, and all donations with which I
may be favoured, will be faithfully employed
in redeeming my remaining children and relatives
from the dreadful condition of slavery.
Mr. Scoble, the Secretary of the British and
Foreign Anti-slavery Society, has kindly
agreed to take charge of whatever money I
may be able to raise; and any reference may
be made to Mr. Rouse at the office of the
above Society, 27, New Broad Street, London;
or to Mr. R. D. Webb, 160, Great Brunswick
Street, Dublin.